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State level economy has always been relying on its major metropolitan area's economic success. So, such metropolitan agglomerations have been considered the only agents that can foster the state's economic standing as if other economic places do (or may) not have significant contribution to the regional economy. In contrast, as some major cities enhance their economic well-being and agglomerate in specialized sector, the rest of the region lose their economic grounds or stay constant by widening the economic gap among cities. Therefore, an institutional approach can help to establish new regional arrangements to substitute all economic places to coordinate each other and succeed the economic growth as part of state government by reducing the disparities. In this sense, this study builds upon the inquiry that seeks the impacts of some economic disparities among economic places (counties) on the performances of state level regional economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One may believe that it is better to transplant European successful models, such as the Polish model, or other regionalization schemes in the other European countries. I believe the French tradition of our law and our national peculiarities would be more suitable to be considered for regionalization strategy based on creating new rules that will govern this new reform. So I endorse a traditional and temperate view considering phasing the necessary reforms in the medium and long period in which communities are prepared for their effective implementation. But in this paper I intend to present some interesting aspects of the regionalization process in the European Union. What is the future architecture of the EU in relation to development gaps, what can be done to find suitable solutions to the global crisis which is badly affecting regional and local communities? These are legitimate questions, and that is why we are looking to find adequate strategies for political, economic, social and administrative matters. Some countries were able to find good solutions that today make it possible to mitigate the adverse effects through administrative reorganization and a real decentralization, through social and political solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the mid-1950s, social scientists in the USA began trying to understand the geography of economic problems using quantitative methods and theoretical models. Subnational regions had the ideal proportions for performing this research, which led to the creation of a new subject area, ‘regional science’. When regional economic imbalances shot up the political agenda in Britain in the 1960s, advocates of regional science saw an opportunity to expand the reach of their subject. This article examines the migration of American regional science to Britain and explores why its ideas and organisational model met with opposition. It argues that the transnational transfer of academic networks is more complex than has been acknowledged and that British regional research and policy was more influenced by American ideas than is commonly recognised. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The process of "regionalization" is a "top down" process, while "regionalism" has more of a "bottom up" sense. Regionalism is determined by history, culture, collective mentality. Regionalization requires a political decision at the level of the state, of the Parliament. Relevant inter-regional disparities are found (between counties which are parts of a region). There are opinions that favor a greater number of regions, with a greater homogeneity. One can find a significant dispersion of indicators that assess the level of development within the Development Regions. After in 2007 the EU approved the POR 2007-2013 Regional Operational Program, the practical problem of establishing national growth poles, in order to finance the development projects with priority, was raised [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the evolution of Ukraine's space-economy from 1990 to 2009, paying particular attention to comparative regional economic performance during the country's expansionary phase from 1999 to 2008. This shows that Ukraine inherited from the Imperial and Soviet eras a space-economy that was amongst the most unbalanced in Europe. Furthermore post-Soviet regional trajectories intensified these territorial imbalances. The paper argues that these trajectories are linked to a wider political economy and especially to shifts in underlying development models and the characteristics of state power. The Orange Revolution marked a significant switch away from export-led industrial growth, which involved national accumulation towards a credit-fuelled consumption model that was reliant on importing foreign capital. The paper identifies three major types of specialized regional economy that persisted despite the change in development model. Nonetheless, their relative performance and contribution to national growth were affected by the shift in model. Centripetal tendencies were reinforced, which increased regional divergence. The paper argues that the Ukrainian space-economy is best understood as a series of historically rooted and relatively geographically bounded regional economies that are increasingly functionally integrated yet externally oriented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the implications of the geographical fragmentation on the economy of Mediterranean Region. It states that Mediterranean Region do not share characteristics found in international regionalism, which means that cooperation and security throughout the Mediterranean are possible but cannot be taken for granted, as they need an effort of good management. The article also explains the impact of Post-Cold War wider Euro-Mediterranean system on the political economic and demographic disproportions in the Mediterranean.

We are grateful to Osegowitsch and Sammartino for their critical analysis of our work on the regional and global strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs). In this response, we demonstrate that changing the quantitative thresholds for classifying MNEs as global vs non-global has no bearing on our earlier conclusions. First, very few global firms exist. Second, scholarly reflection on regional vs global MNE strategy requires substantive extensions of extant international business theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1997, welfare reform has been a defining feature of the UK's Labour government. This article assesses the extent to which the new aspiration to reduce the number of incapacity benefit claimants by one million within 10 years is deliverable. The assessment is based on a model of flows on and off incapacity benefits and their impact on the stock of claimants. In particular, the analysis takes account of the major geographical variations in the distribution of incapacity claimants and the ability of Britain's divergent regional economies to absorb substantial numbers of extra workers. The article concludes that without an accelerated revival in the economies of the North, Scotland and Wales, Labour looks set to fall short of the one million target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term "new regionalism" has come to resemble the ongoing phenomenon of proliferation of bilateral and regional trading agreements in the Asia-Pacific, especially in the aftermath of the regional financial crisis of 1997-1998. While ASEAN economies, beginning with Singapore, were the first to embark on this route, other major Asian economies, viz. China and more recently, India have followed suit. Although several studies have suggested adoption of a common framework on such agreements to be more WTO-consistent, there has been a dearth of studies on this issue in the Asian context. This article, while exploring some of the rationale behind new regionalism in Asia, provides a comparative analysis of tire ongoing bilateral and regional initiatives involving ASEAN, China and India and attempts to analyse the similarities and differences among them with respect to the negotiating framework, coverage of issues and depth of its commitments. The article observes that most of these initiatives are at best resulting in a partial liberalization, and are unlikely to be building blocks towards global free trade on their own, unless supported by unilateral and multilateral liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the “credit view” theory at the state level, which suggests that state-level banking sector health influences state-level real economic performance. Specifically, we extend typical analysis of the credit view theory, applying relevant state-level economic variables to consider whether the health of a state’s banking system affects capital investment loans and, in turn, whether growth of these loans affects a state’s economic performance. We develop a two-equation state-level model, use more refined measures of capital investment loans, and apply advanced dynamic pooled estimators to our panel of state data for the 1984–1993 period. Regression results support dynamic links among state bank health, state investment-oriented bank loans, and state economic performance, thus supporting existence of a state-level credit channel effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists uncertainty on both theoretical and empirical fronts regarding Solow's (1956) predictions of income convergence across similar economies. We utilize recently developed time series techniques to examine the convergence characteristics of Canadian provinces between 1926 and 1996. Using personal income data, we find support for both stochastic convergence and β-convergence for the majority of Canadian provinces, after allowing for a structural break in the data. Our results therefore suggest that true economic convergence is occurring for the most part, though significant differences in income still remain. Studying the convergence properties of earnings, we find that governmental redistribution programs are hastening the trend towards convergence for personal income. Finally, the Atlantic and Plains provinces are found to display stronger convergence properties within their regions than Canada as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing countries such as Mexico, in which profound processes of economic liberalization have taken place over the last few decades, offer fertile terrain for studies of regional disparities. Mexico has experienced a history of polarization between regions, the industrialized north and the underdeveloped south, which have seen their differences widen, exacerbated through recurrent crises and liberalization processes. This paper looks at the convergence process among regions, examining which factors might affect regional growth, tracking the evolution of single units and identifying winners and losers. The evidence shows that northern states, bordering the USA, moved from a condition that might be described as `falling-behind' prior to liberalization to that of a `winner' after that process, while southern states went from the position of `catching-up' to that of `loser'. Regional disparities in human capital would appear to be playing a decisive role in the existence of differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyse some relevant aspects of regional disparities in the EU. The paper departs from standard analysis of convergence by tracking the evolution of the entire distribution, both by using nonparametric techniques and spatial econometric techniques. The main results confirm that: (a) regional disparities across the EU are large and persistent; (b) the ranking among the European regions is very stable; (c) there is a noticeable regional income polarization in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines regional variations in functional limitations of older Americans, considering models for those who currently live in their region of birth and those who live in a different region. A multinomial logit model is used to assess the geographical disparities in functional status while controlling for socioeconomic status (SES) and other characteristics. The study concludes that the regional differentials are persistent. Simulations based on estimated models suggest that improving individual SES can substantially increase the disability-free life span, but it cannot completely negate geographical influences.

Dramatic economic growth in the Asia Pacific has given rise to a both a scholarly and policy oriented debate about the most appropriate organizational form within which any dialogue over the nature economic policy coordination in the region might take place. The most visible exercise in regional economic dialogue over the last few years has been via the evolution of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC). APEC's increasing international profile does not, however, pass uncontested. Some states, and most vocally Malaysia, exhibit a preference for a more 'Asian' and less Pacific' form of regional economic dialogue via the putative East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC). This paper examines APEC and the EAEC as exemplars of two competing conceptions of regional economic cooperation. The paper demonstrates that enhanced economic dialogue in the Asia Pacific cannot be understood simply in rationalistic, utility maximizing terms. Questions of politics, culture and identity are also shaping up to be extremely important. The outcome of this contest over how an understanding of 'region' in the Asia Pacific will be constituted over the long term is yet to be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the rule against external interference in Australia. The balance in favour of 'a right to intervene', certainly as far as human rights are concerned, has shifted because in the post-Cold War era, security considerations are no longer paramount. Governments are now less inclined to ignore violations of human rights for the sake, for example, of the unity of the anti-Soviet alliance where in relation to China, the US has reversed its priority of selling China weapons and naval equipment while overlooking the issue of human rights.

The article discusses the basic motives for regional economic cooperation, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) evolution and its fundamental objectives. It is followed by an evolutionary strategy to approach these objectives, outlining the way this can serve the interests of APEC's diverse constituency. The conservative motive for closer cooperation has been, and continues to be, important. There is a growing realisation that the recent record of growth and mutually beneficial interdependence in the region cannot be taken for granted: it will require regular high-level communications to identify emerging opportunities, to reduce obstacles and to defuse frictions.